Naim Efendi’s granddaughter is an ambitious, insatiable, and boundary-pushing young woman who admires Europe. She builds her life on dreams of living completely free in European chateaus and salons, far removed from the narrow, traditional patterns represented by her grandfather. She views even love as a power game, a matter of pride, and a means of conquest. Although she appears novice and helpless in the beginning of her destructive relationship with Faik Bey, she later crushes the man like a wild cat playing with its prey. Eventually, severing all moral and familial ties, she flees to Europe as the mistress of a wealthy deputy. Seniha symbolizes the rudderless, materialistic new generation, severed from the roots of a collapsing empire.
She grew up in Naim Efendi’s mansion, where her every wish was granted, under the care of French governesses (such as Madam Kronski) who idealized European culture. Rather than receiving a real education, she created an identity by imitating characters from humorous Parisian newspapers and novels.
A young girl with green eyes, fair skin, reddish hair, thin and extremely elegant, with very agile and fluid movements. She styles her hair in modern ways, her lips look mature and fresh, her clothes are always in the latest European fashion, and she possesses a dizzying charm.
Faik Bey
A grand, destructive game of love. She wants to be his master and eventually defeats him by dragging him through the mud spiritually.
Naim Efendi
She rejects her grandfather's spiritual world; she uses his compassion, and eventually leaves him by writing in a letter that she pities him.
Hakkı Celis
She treats him like a toy, a stupid child; she mocks his innocence and his poetry.
Madam Kronski
A kind of accomplice and catalyst who helps her with her secret agenda and tells her European fables.